Centennial High School Students “Kick Butts” on March 28!
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 26, 2007
Contact
Jennifer Jackson, Health Educator
(217) 531-2912
Lori A. Holmes, Public Relations
(217) 531-2927
Kathy Reineke, Centennial High School
(217) 351-3954
Centennial High School Students “Kick Butts” on March 28!
Champaign, IL – Centennial High School will hold its first “Kick Butts Day” on Wednesday, March 28th. Students from Centennial High School are joining thousands of kids across the country who are taking part in Kick Butts Day, a nationwide initiative that encourages kids to take a personal leadership role in the effort to stop youth tobacco use. Students will be encouraged to sign a Kick Butts Day pledge committing them to assist a friend or loved one to quit smoking or to take the steps necessary to stop themselves.
Centennial High School has invited Champaign-Urbana Public Health Staff to support the event with “give-aways” from REALITY, IL. Participants will receive wristbands, CD holders, visors and bracelets with the anti-tobacco message. CUPHD staff will also promote their smoking cessation program to students, since minors caught in the city of Champaign could receive a $145 fine for “lighting up”. Kick Butts Day activities will be available for all students during Physical Education classes.
“Kids are a powerful part of the solution to reducing youth tobacco use,” said Jennifer Jackson, Health Educator for CUPHD, “Centennial High School students are sending the message that smoking is not acceptable and the consequences are both dire and preventable.”
Tobacco use is the leading preventable cause of death in the United States, killing more than 400,000 people each year. Everyday, more than 4,000 kids try their first cigarettes; another 1,000 kids become addicted smokers, one-third of whom will die prematurely as a result.
For more information about CUPHD's programs and services, visit us on the web at www.c-uphd.org.
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